How to Avoid Burnout

Chris Albert 00:00:00 (link to this point)

This is Chris Albert, and I'm here to remind you of one thing. Someday, you're going to die. Now that's not some morbid statement or scary idea. It's solid fact. Your time here on this earth is limited.

And we need to be reminded of this as much as possible for one simple reason, to live your best life while you can. This is the Warrior Soul Podcast.

You know, it it's easy for a lot of us to try to burn the candle at both ends. We we wanna be fit. We wanna be in shape. We wanna do things like like roll jiu-jitsu or or, you know, practice boxing. We wanna get outside and go for a run, we want to get a good day's work in, we want to wake up early, so we can get more stuff done.

But a lot of us were trying to survive on, you know, five, six hours of sleep, sometimes even less. I definitely was one of those guys for a while where I would try to stack as much as I could into a day, and then I'd sleep like four hours. And then I would eventually burn out, and I burned out over and over again. And a lot of us don't realize it, but know, lack of sleep and lack of recovery can really affect your body in a number of different ways. It can definitely affect your brain, it can definitely affect your energy and your emotions, could lead to hormonal deficiencies that could lead to depression, but also could definitely affect your digestion, and it can keep you from rebuilding that inner lining of your intestinal tract, which if you're getting proper rest actually rebuilds every three days, because there's constant damage, there's constant food going through there, it needs to rebuild.

And if it doesn't, what can happen is you end up getting IBS, IBD, you can get autoimmunity, you can get a whole host of different issues, ranging from achy joints to to early onset dementia. So you really need to make sure that you are getting rest, that you are recuperating properly, that you are doing what you need to do for your body to ensure that you're going to be healthy. So what are some keys to doing this? What are some keys to being able to get a good night's rest, to being able to recover properly, to being able to do everything you want to do, but in a way that's not going to hurt you for the long run. So number one is, of course, make sure you're getting eight hours of sleep.

Now, that's easier said than done for a lot of people. I realize that a lot of you might work shift work, you might might, have odd hours. But, there's some keys to to making sure that you're able to get some rest even though you might be keeping odd hours. Number one is is keep your room as dark as possible. Right?

Keep your room as dark as possible. Get some blackout curtains. If you can't get blackout curtains, just get a mask for yourself. Just don't let light get into your room. Don't let light get into your eye.

A few hours prior to bed, stop looking at your phone or your computer or your TV screen. If you do, make sure you're wearing blue light blocking sunglasses. They look a little dumb, but they'll keep that blue light from getting into your eyes. And you can get a great pair off of Amazon for like $8. Alright?

You don't want that blue light going in your eyes because that'll that'll wake up your hypothalamus, really mess up your circadian rhythm, and it'll make you feel like it's daylight out. Another big thing is keep the temperature of your room kinda cool. You want it to be around 67 to 69 degrees. You don't want it to be higher than that. A lot of us try to warm up the room too much, and if it's too hot, your body will actually not be able to fall asleep.

You want it you want it to be a little bit cool. Of course, you can get under the covers, you can warm up under there, but but the outside of the room should be a little bit cool. Otherwise, yeah, you're gonna have a little bit of problems falling asleep. And I know I myself, if I'm I'm hot, I can't I can't get to sleep at all. Alright?

And that's because the temperature, when it's warmer out, it's daylight. Right? So as animals, we we have self regulating factors. And if it's a little bit too warm, it's gonna feel like it's daylight. You're not gonna be able to sleep.

So the other thing is make sure you're hydrated. Make sure you're good and hydrated, but also make sure that you haven't hydrated to the point where you gotta get up and take a piss. Alright? So, make sure you're drinking water throughout the day. Make sure that you are getting enough salt, enough minerals.

Right? So make sure you're adding some Himalayan pink salt to your to your food. And make sure that, like I said, you're drinking enough water. Half your body weight in fluid ounces of water plus 10 ounces if you're if you're really active. Time of day for working out.

So you wanna keep the time of day for working out. You don't wanna train past 7PM. If you're training past 7PM, I understand a lot of you gotta get it in when you can get it in. But a lot of times, past 7PM is going to keep you awake. It's gonna keep you awake because you get all wired up and your body is gonna think that it is daylight again.

Right? So you wanna make sure that that you're trying to complete your workouts prior to 7PM. If if you can, prior to 5PM, but prior to 7PM is is is gonna be good because a lot of you gotta work. And then as far as other methods and modes of recovery, So after a really, really good workout, make sure that you are getting getting enough calories in. So a lot of you who are doing your fasting, you're you're you're not just fasting, you're starving yourselves.

And if you're you're doing fasting too much, that's definitely gonna keep you from getting the rest you need, and it's gonna keep you from, you know, getting the sleep you need. When you're fasting, a lot of times your body is going to keep you up because you're hungry. And because you're hungry, you're not gonna be able to get get that sleep. You're not gonna be able to release a lot of those hormones. So a really good method that I've used that helps me to get sleep is rather than going for a really strict fast or trying to be in strict ketosis, what I'll do is I'll eat a lot of carbs later on in the day for my last meal, and that actually helps me to sleep a bit better.

The carbs I like to choose are white rice. White rice helps out a lot. Just adding a cup of white rice to my meal. The thing about white rice is it digests a lot faster, and it helps with recovery a bit more, and it will it will also give you the carbs you need to to keep your body going. And that's about it, I'm not gonna make this too long, but yeah, make sure you're getting your rest.

Make sure you're getting your sleep. You're not gonna be your best if you're not sleeping. You're not gonna be your best if you're not taking care of yourself. For those of you who haven't been with us before, this is the Warrior Soul podcast. This is a podcast that helps US military veterans to live their best lives.

If you've got any topics you want us to cover, let me know. Just hit me up there on Instagram, and that Instagram handle is at Warrior Soul Agoge. That's Warrior Soul, a g o g e. And as always, this podcast is brought to you by F Bomb Nutrition. They make delicious packets of fats.

You train their macadamia nut butters, mix them up with chocolate, and mix them up with sea salt, mix them up with pecan butter. Absolutely delicious. You want 20% off of your first order of F Bombs, head over to www.warriors not www.warriorsoul. Www.dropanfbomb.com. Use the code warrior soul at checkout, and you'll get 20% off your first order.

With that, guys, I'll be back at you later in the week with some more notes.